Q&A: Amazon Fire TV

Amazon’s Fire TV video-streaming set-top box fulfilled most observers’ expectations. that supports Amazon’s existing Prime video service, Netflix and a handful of other streaming options. It plays music and games. There really wasn’t much we didn’t know about the $99 box before Amazon VP Peter Larsen took the stage.

But by the time he was done, we had a whole set of new questions. I talked to Larsen at the launch event, and got a few answers for some of our most pressing questions.

Who makes the Amazon Fire TV’s graphics chip?

According to Larsen, it’s a Qualcomm Arduino 320 GPU. That graphics horsepower comes as part of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor, which as Amazon explained during the unveiling, is a Quad Core CPU. Often found in mobile device, the S4 and its graphics GPU support 1080p video, 3D stereo photography, high-speed USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 4.0.

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Is there a bundled deal for Amazon Fire TV and the Fire Game Controller?

Fire TV costs $99 and the game controller costs $39.99. It’s conceivable many people will want to buy them together. For now though, a deal is not in the cards. “We’re not announcing anything around that at this time,” said Larsen, “but it’s a good idea.”

Do existing Amazon Prime customers get a deal on the new hardware?

No. Amazon Prime customers already pay $99 a year (it used to be $79) for free two-day shipping and access to Amazon’s Prime Video content library. They do get the first month of Prime access free (which means initial sign-up is really a 13-month deal). Said Larsen: “We think it’s a pretty great product for the price already.”

Why didn’t Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos personally unveil Fire TV?

Bezos has a history of personally delivering the message on new product categories. He did it for the first Kindle, and again for the first Kindle Fire tablet. When Amazon’s new line of HD tablets came out, Bezos personally sat down with journalists. This time, no Bezos. “We like to mix it up,” Larsen said. “I know he loves [Fire TV], that’s for sure.”

Is Amazon Fire TV intended to compete with game consoles like the Xbox One?

No. Even though this set-top box has ample graphics horsepower and an admirable amount of memory (2 GB of RAM), it’s a casual gaming device. The box includes 8 GB of storage — as little as an entry-level iPhone. A game like Call of Duty is roughly 2 GB and would eat up a quarter of the Fire TV’s storage space.

Can you expand the storage space?

During the launch, Amazon demonstrated the graphics-rich mobile game Asphalt 8 running on Fire TV — but even that eats up almost 1GB of storage. Is there a way to store more than 8GB worth of games? Apparently so.

“You know, it has a USB port on it,” said Larsen. “So we don’t have anything specifically to announce there, but it’s a pretty good idea. You could add a USB stick to it over time.”

What is ASAP, how does it work and can you turn it off?

One of the more interesting features you’ll find in Amazon Fire TV is ASAP, which is more than just a content recommendation engine. “Basically, ASAP predicts what you’re most likely to watch,” Larsen said. “It cues those TV shows and movies up, so they start instantly.”

This is far beyond the “Recommendations for You” you might find in Netflix. The recommendations are figured out on Amazon’s servers. “Most of our recommendations algorithms run up in the cloud, as you might expect, because we’re applying it to a large catalog of content.” Can consumers turn this feature off? No, Larsen said: “I’m not sure why they would want to.”

Why is there no Store on Fire TV?

The absence of an Amazon retail destination on Amazon Fire TV is a surprise. What better place to allow existing customers to do some couch-based shopping? Sure, they have their tablets (and Kindle Fires do include a shopping destination) — but some might want retail therapy on the largest screen in their house.

“It’s a good idea and we’re not going to talk about our future roadmap at this time,” said Larsen. “But as you can expect, we agree with you that it’s an area ripe for innovation.”

Does Fire TV voice search work locally or access the Amazon cloud?

Amazon’s Fire TV includes what may be the first set-top remote with voice control. It’s there primarily to help you find content. How does it work? Remotely: you speak, and voice search pings Amazon’s servers for the answer.

Sadly, there’s no MayDay on the Amazon Fire TV – for now. “It’s a nice idea,” said Larsen, who seemed to like all my ideas. “We’re gonna watch what customers think and what they’re saying and telling us. If they think it’s an important feature, we’ll figure out a way to innovate on that over time.”

Do you get more cloud storage when you buy Amazon Fire TV?

An Amazon account includes 5GB of free cloud storage. You can buy more on an as-needed basis. During the product unveiling, Larsen showed how he could take a photo on his smartphone, upload it to the Amazon cloud and have it appear on his Fire TV moments later. That kind of functionality might encourage more people to use Amazon’s cloud storage.

Unfortunately, you won’t get any extra, free cloud space with your new Fire TV.

Is the Amazon Fire TV hardware being sold at cost?

When I met with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last year, he outlined the company’s device strategy: “we want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy devices.”

What that means: Amazon typically prices hardware so it can cover the costs of making it. This helps make the hardware appealing for consumers, and allows Amazon to make more money when customers buy Amazon’s goods and services through these devices.

With Amazon Fire TV, “we are following that same strategy,” said Larsen. “There’s actually an unbelievable amount of technology in this product for $100.”

No: you can have as many Amazon devices as you want on a single account. The only limit is how many devices can share a single piece of content. Amazon does not set those rules; the content publishers do. Larsen told me Amazon has no plans to change how it manages memberships and accounts.